TRM OBD2 E36 Turbo Kit

Description

The E36 TRM Turbo Kit — OBD2 blow through tuning package included.

E36 forced induction. The kits, the customs, and the endless projects. It has been done wrong time and time again. The kit hardware is never what it should be, the custom setups never turn out as well or as inexpensive as planned, and the endless projects, oh the endless projects; will that car ever see another mile under its own power again? The true home-brewer needs to be a tuner, a welder, an engineer, and a mechanic. And most importantly, have lots of time on their hands.

At TRM we we’re tired of seeing it done wrong time after time, tired of hearing the complaints and drawbacks of boosting an E36, tired of seeing sub-par hardware, and finally, tired or seeing enormous price tags attached. TRM decided to finally do it right. All power, no hype, no sacrifice.

Every aspect of our kit has been properly designed and speced by our in-house engineers. Not even the tuning is outsourced. We don’t abide by the ‘bigger is better’ philosophy, we follow the ‘better is better’ philosophy. Know that when you purchase a TRM Turbo kit, you are getting the best of the best, engineered for your goals. If its peak power you seek, go straight for our stage III. If its a low boost threshold, responsive spool, instantaneous torque that remains throughout the entire RPM band, and 300-350 trackable wheel horsepower you want, then choose our stage I option. Our stage II bridges the gap and is the ideal 550-600 whp option with reasonable response.

Now your thinking, “Great, how do all these claims being made effect me as a buyer of the kit and what actually makes the TRM kit the best on the market?” Lets start out by listing the common pitfalls and drawbacks of the other kits and customs out there and see how TRM has responded to them:

1. Let’s start with the basics. The heart of the ‘turbo kit’: The turbo. It’s hard to think people get this wrong, but it happens all the time. The common qualms and myths of the ‘turbo motor’ result: High boost threshold and Laggy Response. Myths. They are entirely resultant from a turbo that has been improperly speced for the engine displacement, manifold design, intercooler piping, wastegate, blow-off valve, and cooling capacity. The problem is that most do not think of a turbo system as that, a system. One should not spec a turbo, then a wastegate, then a blow-off valve, then piping, and then an intercooler all separately. A proper kit is visioned and designed as a big picture first, with a common goal, and then engineered as a whole to work together. TRM did exactly that. We did not use the biggest wastegate, blow-off valve, intercooler piping, intercooler, and certainly not the biggest turbo. We used the ‘right’ wastegate, blow-off valve, intercooler piping, intercooler, and turbo. The result? Torque when ever you ask for it and full boost at 2500 RPM. This is a kit, built as a kit. As a system. As a whole.

2. Why did you buy your BMW? You can probably come up with a list a mile long, but we are willing bet somewhere on it lies a place for ‘comfort’ or ‘luxury’. Is there any reason to make a permanent sacrifice in that department when it is time for more power? We do not believe so. Many competitors eliminate or alter one of the primary comforts items that exists on any car: The AC. They do this because they do not spec the right intercooler, engineer the correct pipe fitment, use a properly designed exhaust manifold, or just generally make things too big. Bottom line, getting rid of it makes things easier and that is not what TRM is about. To our knowledge, our kit is the only one that does not affect AC cooling or routing in any way. All AC components say in the stock location and form. The buck does not stop there though. Like the AC, everything ‘just fits’ with the TRM turbo kit. No reason to relocate you washer fluid reservoir or change any other component from its stock location. The kits fits, everything else stays.

3. We find it ironic that every other kit manufacturer out there thinks the only thing you want to do to your E36 if make it more powerful. As we know, power is not the only desirable aspect in a sports car, nor is it the only thing that makes it fast. Most turbo kit purchasers will also chose, if they have not already chosen, to alter the handling characteristics of their car. This usually results in less ride height. What does this have to do with a turbo kit you ask? Pipe routing. Other turbo kits on the market route their piping under the front subframe. BMW puts an underpanel and cross brace under the car as a small means of buffering the car from the road. They should be the lowest points on your underbody. With any other turbo kit on the market, that is not the case. Most pipe routing is an extra 2 to 4 inches below the subframe, and thus, that much closer to the ground and begging for potential disaster. Lowering a car only diminishes this clearance further. At TRM, we have resolved this issue by being the only kit on the market that keeps all piping above the subframe. We know that not every driveway is friendly and not every speed bump is the same height. What your car will clear, our kit will clear.

Which E36 kit is right for me?

Many people quickly notice that our Stage I and Stage II hardware kits are priced the exact same. We do this because we believe each meets a separate goal as opposed to a separate price point. The only difference between this kits is the size of the turbo. The Stage I is a fast responding, quick spool kit. The top end power will be physically limited to the neighborhood of 350 wheel horsepower. The Stage II, while still maintaining a relatively low boost threshold, will respond slower and spool later than the Stage I, but its maximum output is over 600 wheel horsepower. In the end, the choice is up to you.

What do I need in addition to my kit purchase?

Many kits on the market are packaged as a ‘one-size-fits-all’, no choice for the consumer kit. TRM believes in letting the customer choose exactly what they want out of the kit and that is why none of our kits include everything you will need. Why? That depends on your goals. We will even go to the length of doing a custom turbo sizing specifically for your project and package it into your kit. Depending on your goals you will need to add certain other products to your kit. The Stage I and Stage II kits come with injectors and MAF to support up to 650 whp. The maximum power available form the stage 1 is around 400 whp. The higher horsepower kits (over 350 wheel horsepower) will also need a method of lowering compression (built low compression motor with custom pistons or as simple as s thicker MLS headgasket). If you have any questions concerning what you may or may not need to meet your goals, do not hesitate to call or email us. Some of the common questions we receive are answered in our FAQ section of the site. As an aside, we also offer full turn key turbo cars and in-house custom motor builds. All of our turbo kit tuning is produced 100% custom for your specific car and kit combination.